A YEAR'S STUDY OF THE DAILY LEARNING 
OF SIX CHILDREN 



BY 

GEORGE E. FREELAND 



A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Clark University, 
Worcester, Mass., in partial fulfilment of the requirements for 
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy and accepted on the 
recommendation of William H. Burnham 



Reprinted from The Pedagogical Seminary 
June, 1921 Vol. XXVIII pp. 97-115 



A YEAR'S STUDY OF THE DAILY LEARNING 
OF SIX CHILDREN 



BY 

GEORGE E. FREELAND 



A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Clark University, 
Worcester, Mass., in partial fulfilment of the requirements for 
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy and accepted on the 
recommendation of William H. Burnham 



Reprinted from The Pedagogical Seminary 
June, 1921 Vol. XXVIII pp. 97-115 



Kov 3 fa?' I 



V^ 



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A YEAR'S STUDY OF THE DAILY LEARNING OF 
SIX CHILDREN 



By George E. Freeland 



Introductory Statement 

There is a definite need, at present, for long and careful 
experiments in child learning. The numerous problems raised 
by Thorndike, Freeman, Hall, and others demand attention 
before much progress can be made in methods of teaching, 
educational and psychological measurements, school admin- 
istration, and educational psychology. 

Eight years of study on these problems, during which time 
the available literature in English, German, and French was 
read, reveals the following situation : 

L All investigations of child learning have been of ex- 
tremely short duration. No one has followed a group of 
children scientifically studying their learning through an entire 
school year in any, subject. The psychology of child learning 
is at present based upon studies, few of which have gone 
beyond the initial stages. The total time of most of our 
widely quoted studies does not exceed two or three hours of 
practice. Kirby's study in arithmetic is a good illustration. 
Thorndike made frequent use of it in his Vol. II. The total 
time of learning did not exceed ninety minutes. 

2. Most of the conclusions of scientists concerning learning 
in the elementary school are based upon investigations of the 
learning of adults. The majority of the studies mentioned 
by Freeman in " How Children Learn " were made upon 
adults. A typical conclusion from Thorndike's " Psychology 
of Learning " is given for further illustration. " The experi- 
mental results obtained justify in a rough -a'ciy the avoidance 



98 THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 

of very long practice periods and of very short intervals. 
They seem to show, on the other hand, that much longer prac- 
tice periods than are customary in the common schools are 
probably entirely allowable. . . . On the ivhole, how- 
ever, s'o very few of the infinite ivays in which any given total 
time can be distributed have been tested — . . . that psy- 
chology has little yet to offer in advance of the experience of 
sagacious workers." (Ed. Psy., v. ii, pp. 194 and 206.)^ 

It is interesting to note that he bases this very qualified con- 
clusion for common schools upon ten investigations, all but 
one of which were made upon adults, and the one made upon 
children (Kirby) shows exactly the opposite to his (Thorn- 
dike's) conclusion.^ 

Lack of space prevents further illustrations, but the above 
situation was the motive for making the study that is reported 
here. It is not entirely conclusive and is only one of a large 
number needed to furnish us with data from the actual work 
of children over a long period of time under typical school 
conditions. 

The Plan of this Study 

Typewriting was chosen for the following reasons : ( 1 ) It 
offers a medium in which the children had had no previous 
practice. (2) Several careful studies of adults have been 
made with typewriting. (3) It furnishes definite objective 
evidence in strokes, of amount accomplished, mistakes, and so 
on. These may be compared at any time after the practice 
is over. 

Six Children were selected upon the basis of normality. 
Their intelligence quotients showed a range of only five points 
in the Stanford Revision of the Binet Tests. The plan was 
to study a few normal children in a more careful way than 
would be possible with a large number. One child for each 
grade froin one to six made up the group. 

Each child practiced for ten minutes a day five days a iveek, 
but with the usual school intermissions. All the work was 
done in the forenoon between ten-thirty and twelve o'clock. 

One teacher who worked under the observation of the 
zvriter, taught all the children. The machine used was a Royal 
No. 10. The touch system with the keyboard entirely hidden 
from sight was adhered to. 

1 Italics in this quotation are mine. They show the extent to which 
lack of data forced qualification. 

- These illustrations are not made to criticize Thorndike or Free- 
man. They have been first among those who deplore the lack of 
scientific studies of child learning. 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 99 

The investigation covers a full school year with the influ- 
ence of the summer vacation. One child is followed for a 
period of four years, in which time he relearned three times. 

What May be Concluded from Such a Study 

First, with six normal children as subjects the facts gained 
in this study should give a fairly clear picture of how the nor- 
mal child in each grade (up to the sixth) advances in type- 
zuriting when practicing ten minutes per school day. It should 
also show the influence of vacations, initial and later practice, 
and speed in connection with accuracy in the subject of type- 
writing. 

Second, since typewriting is a complex subject, similar to 
reading, until we have further data we may assume that the 
general facts true of children learning to typewrite are true 
of children learning to read ; that vacations, initial and later 
practice, and speed in connection with accuracy will have 
similar influence in all complex subjects. 

At present most of our educational psychology is based upon 
conclusions of the second type. A good illustration is found 
in Thorndike {Ed. Psy., Vol. 3, p. 14). Here he refers to the 
work of Miss Arai as continued effort in a " very difficult 
intellectual process." His discussion shows that he considered 
her experiences zvith arithmetic gave evidence of what others 
were likely to experience in any w,ental ivork (reading, think- 
ing, or memorizing). 

It must be admitted at the beginning that conclusions of 
the second type are, at best, always doubtful even though they 
are common and make up about nine tenths of our present 
educational psychology. They will be given for what they 
are worth in each section that follows. 

Conclusions of the first type, however, are mostly valid. If 
more children had been studied, the conclusions would be 
worth more. It should be added that this is tlic only published 
study of children learning to typewrite and has im)re learners 
than any of the famous adult studies of typewriting. Book 
had four learners. Swift one, and Hill and Rejall two. It also 
follozi's zvitli daily records one group of children over a longer 
continuous period than any other published study of child 
learning. 

This investigation has been made after a careful study of 
the work of others. It is assumed that the reader is acquainted 
with the literature ; the discussions and comparisons treat of 
points that, if their history were gone into, would require a 
volume. 



100 THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 

Facts on the Amount Learned 
The amount learned is a factor entirely absent from all 
our studies of learning. When a child learns to read, his 
progress is from the ability to pronounce c-a-t to the ability to 
read a connected sentence to the ability to read a paragraph, 
to the ability to read a story, and so on.'' His speed and 
accuracy, if the facts in typewriting may be carried over to 
reading, probably increased very little after he reached the 
second stage, that is, learned to read a sentence. 

The need of studies of the amount learned is expressed by 
Thorndike as follows : " I should eagerly have seized upon 
any measurements of learning in arithmetic which measured 
the learner's advance from ' ability to add numbers to 9 plus 
9 ' and so on. Nobody has ever had children learn geometry 
or painting or chemistry under defined conditions, testing from 
time to time the kind of thing they could at that time achieve." 
(Ed. Psy., V. 2.) 

The progress of two individuals from this standpoint is 
revealed in the data which follow. Records of the other chil- 
dren are on file at the University of Washington. 

Six-year-old hoy 

March 28, 1916. 
First lesson of year (10 min.) 
rt u r yu rtyu rtyu rtyu rtyu rtyu rtyurtyu rtyu rtyu rtyu 
rtyu rtyu rtyu rtyu rtyu rtyurtyu rtyu rtyu rtyurtyu rtyuu 
rtyu rtyu rtyu ruyu rtyu rtyu rtuu rtyu rtyu 

March 15, 1917. 

Last lesson of year 

Water won't quench fire, 

Fire won't burn stick. 

Stick won't beat dog, 

Dog won't bite pig, 

Pig won't get over the stile, 

And I can not get home to-night. 

The rope said, 

" I won't hang butcher." 

The old woman met a rat. ,^ , ,- i^,,^ 

March 17. 1916. 

Twelve-year-old hoy 
First lesson of year (10 min.) 

She said, 7^^^,.^ J^.cl<t^<u-n. ^^-o-^-^^^^^^f^ ^y (/X-ort^ 

" Please make some shoes. -7/ . • f? ^ J. /^.^ 
-^/ /-. .^ -f -/ X n jT -*^^-e-^ 

3 This order of development in reading may be questioned. It is 
merely illustrative and not the important issue here. 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 101 

I want them for the Httle boy, 

Then he will shake the Oak-tree, 

The oak-tree will give me a cup. 

The spring will give me some water. 

I want it for little Tuppens. 

He is choking." 

The shoemaker said, 

" Get me some leather, 

Then I can make some shoes, 

The boy will shake the oak-tree. 

The oak-tree will give me a cup. 

The spring will give me some water. 

I want it for little Tuppens. 

He is choking." 

The cow said, 

" Get me some corn. 

Then I will give you some leather." 

The old hen ran to the farmer. 

In every case the fundamental difficulties of typewriting had 
been overcome. Adjusting to the machine, correct fingering, 
development of fair flexibility and strength of the smaller 
fingers, mastery of the keyboard by touch, and so on, make 
up a formidable array. Aside from speed and accuracy, the 
mastery of all these different phases of the work was the chief 
accomplishment of the learners. 

Each child covered the first thirty exercises in the " Stand- 
ard " instructor and advanced as far as he could into the 
Free and Treadwell readers. At the end of the year they had 
covered in the readers : 

Grade I Grade II Grade III Grade IV Grade V Grade VI 

34pp 35pp 56pp Withdrew at Withdrew at 96pp 

end of 3 months end of 3 months 

Speed and Accuracy 

The speed and accuracy curves which follow must be inter- 
preted in the light of the difficulties which are being met and 
overcome. Without such interpretation it might appear from 
the curves that little progress was being made. 

The fact that the speed curve is' very irregular and does not 
show any marked progress may be regarded by some as an 
indication that the subject-matter selected was not " easy " 
enough, or suited to the learners. But this subject matter was 
the " Standard Exercise Book " followed by the Free and 
Treadwell Readers. It was-«ot the intention to select subject 



102 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 



matter of the kind used in school work. The learning curves 
given below should be more reliable than those reported in 
other studies of typewriting. They are probably typical of 
curves of children learning complex functions. Curves of their 

CURVES OF THE SPEED AND ACCURACY BY WEEKS OF THE 
SIXTH GRADE BOY FOR THE FULL YEAR 

Mistakes Accuracy 

in 100 Speed 

Strokes 



Strokes 

in 10 
Minutes 





















































! 




llfl 





























/^ 


•v 




























117 


n 




/ 


~ 


\ 












/ 


\ 


/ 






\ 




N, 










j 


\, 














1/^ 


n 








\ 






/ 


\ 


/ 












\ 


/ 


\ 


^ 


\ 






/ 


\ 


-" 


\ 


^ 


V 






15 

































\ 


i 






\ 




/ 


/ 










\ 


^ 




14 


10 




























1 














f 


















la 


10 




























/ i 
1 ' 
































"^7, 


10 






1 




1 

1 
1 


1 
1 

1 
















( 1 
































n 


)0 






1 

1 




1 

1 

1 


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1 
1 
1 






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10 


)0 






1 


1 


,' 


1 




1 




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1 




1 






1 






































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9)01 




~7 

1 

■J- 
1 


— 


- 




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1 
1 


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1 
1 




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a 


JO 








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/ 




































7 


10 




















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1 


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6 


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1 


























































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: 































































6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 



Weeks 1234567 89 101112 1314 15161718 19 202122232425 26272829 303132 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 103 

advancement in speed and accuracy in reading or arithmetic 
would very likely be similar. 

From the foregoing curves several important points are 
evident. They may be enumerated as follows : 

1. Speed fluctuated much more than accuracy. The reason 
for this extreme fluctuation in the speed curve was chiefly the 
material used. A new lesson involving new combinations of 
letters and new adjustments seemed to slow down the work 
but had very little influence upon the accuracy. 

2. The rise and fall in accuracy seems to have had very little 
relation to the rise and fall of speed. They both fluctuated 
in the same direction at times, in opposite directions about as 
often, and in the same direction but entirely out of propor- 
tion to each other at other times. Detailed illustrative com- 
parisons of this relation are furnished for the first term. They 
are: 

Boy 7 years old. 

Accuracy takes opposite turn to speed on days ; 3, 9, 10, 13, 
14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 25, 26, 30 (12). Accuracy approaches 
agreement with speed on days; 2, 6, 7, 8, 11, 17, 19, 20, 27, 
28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, ZT , (17). Accuracy varies in the 
same direction as speed but in entirely different proportions 
in days; 4, 5, 12, 22, 23, 35, (6).^ 

When improvement from one day to the next was con- 
sidered, with approximately 600 measures to compute, a posi- 
tive correlation of .14 was found. This is practically the same 
as no correlation. 

3. It soon became apparent that accuracy was harder to 
improve than speed. Drill would improve speed in every case. 
Something more subtle and harder to employ was necessary 
to improve accuracy. 

This refers to the work after the initial improvements in 
speed and accuracy. After the first two weeks the accuracy 
curves fluctuate back and forth throughout the year. The 
speed, although fluctuating as shown in the curves until all 
the different phases of typewriting had been encountered, 
finally began a gradual rise with practice. The accuracy did 
not do this. 

Tables of daily speeds and accuracy follow : 

* These are comparisons of improvement over the preceding day. 
It must be kept in mind that the improvement of speed and accuracy- 
is not the same as scores in speed and accuracy. 



104 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 



Sixth Grade Boy 



Lessons 


Date 


Strokes in 


Errors to 


Spring Term 


1916 


10 Min. 


100 Strokes 


1 


3/17 


80 


6.2 


2 


3/20 


480 


5.4 


3 


3/21 


740 


1.7 


4 


3/22 


815 


2.5 


5 


3/23 


970 


2.9 


6 


3/24 


870 


4.5 


7 


3/27 


835 


2.1 


8 


3/28 


996 


2.9 


9 


3/29 


900 


1.4 


10 


3/30 


896 


4.5 


11 


3/31 






12 


4/3 


952 


5;7 


13 


4/4 


1232 


1.5 


14 


4/5 


336 


8. 


15 


4/6 


594 


9.2 


16 


4/7 


650 


5.3 


17 


4/10 


785 


5. 


18 


4/11 


860 


2.9 


19 


4/12 


875 


4.6 


20 


4/13 


855 


8.7 


21 


4/14 


890 


2.6 


22 


4/17 


1240 


2.5 


23 


4/18 


566 


6. 


24 


4/20 


834 


4. 


25 


4/21 


612 


5.2 


26 


4/24 


540 


6.6 


27 


4/26 


786 


2.6 


28 


4/27 


735 


6.6 


29 


4/28 


880 


4.6 


30 


5/2 


840 


4.5 


31 


5/3 


935 


2.1 


32 


5/4 


910 


6.7 


33 


5/5 


770 


5.8 


34 


5/8 


825 


4.4 


35 


5/10 


1025 


3. 


36 


5/12 


1204 


3.1 


37 


5/15 


1166 


2.4 


38 


5/16 


1070 


2.7 


39 


5/17 


1390 


3.8 


40 


5/18 


816 


4. 


41 


5/19 


798 


2.3 


42 


5/22 


385 


6.2 


43 


5/23 


464 


1.2 


Fall Term 


(Summer 


■ Vacation, 


120 Days) 


1 


9/22 


475 


7.7 


2 


9/25 


765 


3. 


3 


9/26 


818 


.3 


4 


9/27 


626 


2. 


5 


9/28 


1091 


3.9 


6 


9/29 


560 


2.1 


7 


10/2 


420 


6.6 


8 


10/3 


922 


3. 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 



105 





Sixth Grade Boy 




Lessons 


Date 


Strokes in 


Errors to 


■Spring Term 


1916 


10 Min. 


100 Strokes 


^-^9 


10/4 


858 


1. 


10 


10/5 


620 


7. 


11 


10/6 


617 


7.6 


12 


10/9 


530 


4.5 


13 


10/10 


800 


1.6 


14 


10/11 


1182 


3.3 


15 


10/12 


1110 


1.2 


16 


10/13 


710 


1.5 


17 


10/16 


920 


2.3 


18 


10/17 


875 


2.1 


19 


10/18 


1410 


.7 


20 


10/19 


422 


1.6 


21 


10/20 


220 


12.2 


22 


10/23 


275 


7.6 


23 


10/24 


199 


8.5 


24 


10/25 


126 


8.7 


25 


10/26 


235 


1.2 


26 


10/27 


185 


8.1 


27 


10/30 


156 


7. 


28 


10/31 


210 


4.7 


29 


11/1 


245 


3.7 




6 Days' Vacation 




30 


11/9 


249 


1.8 


31 


11/10 


224 


3.1 


32 


11/11 


242 


4.1 


33 


11/13 






34 


11/14 




. . . 


35 


11/15 


(Record lost) 


36 


11/16 






37 


11/17 






38 


11/20 






39 


11/21 




• . . 


40 


11/22 


'2i2 


4.7 


41 


11/23 


233 


4.7 


42 


11/24 


215 


2.3 


43 


11/27 


212 


6.6 


44 


11/28 


257 


3. 


45 


11/29 


239 


2.5 




Vacation 




46 


12/4 






47 


12/5 


'239 


4.i 


48 


12/6 


211 


9.9 


49 


12/7 






50 


12/8 


320 


4'.6 


Winter Term 








1 


12/13 


229 


11.3 


2 


12/14 


262 


4.1 


3 


12/15 


288 


5.2 


4 


12/18 


208 


9.6 


5 


12/19 


237 


13.4 



106 THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 





Sixth Grade Boy 




Lessons 


Date 


Strokes in 


Errors to 


Winter Term 


1916 


10 Min. 


100 Strokes 


6 


12/20 


433 


5.3 


7 


12/21 


330 


3.6 


8 


12/22 








Vacation 18 Days 




9 


1/8 


181 


13.7 


10 


1/9 


316 


1.6 


11 


1/10 






12 


1/11 






13 


1/12 






14 


1/15 


162 


6^6 


15 


1/16 


328 


2.4 


16 


1/17 


320 


8.4 


17 


1/18 


304 


9.5 


18 


1/19 


302 


3.6 


19 


1/22 






20 


1/23 






21 


1/24 


"" (Record lost) 


22 


1/25 






23 


1/26 


Vacation 




24 


2/5 


229 


6.5 


25 


2/13 


286 


2.4 


26 


2/14 


436 


3.4 


27 


2/15 


485 


5.7 


28 


2/16 






29 


2/19 


384 


2^8 


30 


2/20 


410 


5.1 


31 


2/21 


448 


6.6 


32 


2/22 






33 


2/26 


'409 


5^6 


34 


2/27 


470 


6.1 


35 


2/28 


538 


3.7 


36 


3/1 


516 


2.6 


37 


3/2 






38 


3/5 


'703 


3^5 


39 


3/6 






40 


3/7 


584 


5^3 


41 


3/8 


680 




42 


3/9 






43 


3/12 






44 


3/13 


475 


5^6 


45 


3/14 


572 


3.1 


46 


3/15 


331 


5.7 


47 


3/16 


764 


3.7 



(Complete records of other children are on file at the University of 
Washington.) 

In this connection, it must be kept in mind that most of the 
studies of learning concerning which large " gains " were re- 
ported, have based their reports upon gains in speed alone. 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 107 

Kirby^ found that his group in addition gained 48 per cent 
in speed and lost 4 per cent in accuracy. The group in division 
gained 75 per cent in speed and gained 2/6 per cent in 
accuracy. Hahn and Thorndike^ report that " school children 
will maintain or improve the percentage of correct answers 
in their total product." Again they say, "Properly admin- 
istered drills will improve accuracy." 

From my own study I have concluded that probably the 
biggest difficulty of all drill work that confronts the investi- 
gator and the teacher is this " proper administration " so as 
to increase accuracy as well as speed. It has been demon- 
strated any number of times that most drills, if persisted in, 
are likely to improve speed. But it has also been demon- 
strated that very few drills will improve accuracy. Brown" 
found improvement in accuracy from drills in arithmetic. But 
this improvement was far less in accuracy than it was in speed. 
Wells in studying tapping measured speed alone. Whitley in 
marking letters studied speed alone. Wells^ in cancellation 
work found gains in speed '' without diminishing precision." 
(It is to be regretted that he did not try to discover some of 
the elements involved in increasing precision.) Leuba and 
Hyde^ in substitution tests studied speed alone. 

Thorndike in reporting various experiments in arithmetic 
says of Donovan and Thorndike " the average number of 
examples correctly done rose from 2^ to 4}4 per minute." 
He gives no attention to the increase or decrease in the per- 
centage incorrectly done. " Wells " he says, " raised the 
amount done to nearly double zvithoiit decreasing the pre- 
cision." Thorndike did not have data for a discussion of the 
improvement of accuracy. Many teachers have the mistaken 
idea that ordinary drill is equally effective in improving both 
speed and quality in any subject. 

Intensive Study of Daily Fluctuations 
Conditions that cause a great gain in speed, accuracy, or 
both, and the opposite conditions that may cause a fall in 
either or both of these seem to occur frequently. They often 
cause many peculiar performances which students of learning 
in the past have thought due to some special influence such 
as " fatigue," " vacations," " good teaching," " poor teach- 
ing," etc. 

Any learning curve reveals these fluctuations. They are 
found in the studies of Swift, Book, Bryan and Harter, etc. 
We have a very good illustration in the study of Kirby who 

5 Vol. 2, reported by Thorndike in Educational Psychology. 



108 THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 

found that 14% of the 600 children in his experiment did not 
improve from his drill but fell behind their original scores. 
Brown obtained similar results. 

Let us take for illustration the work of S. K. (7 yr. boy) 
who on the first day of practice made a score of 165 strokes 
in 10 minutes with an accuracy of 33.3 mistakes to 100 strokes. 
He did less work and was more inaccurate the second day 
on the same material than the first. The third day he just 
equalled his first day's work in speed but his accuracy was 
much worse than on either of the other two days, and on the 
fourth day he made a slight gain in speed and, although his 
accuracy was somewhat better than it was the day before it 
was still worse than it had been the first two days. However 
on the fifth day he showed an entire change of form and both 
his speed and accuracy showed marked improvement. 

A table of this work is given here : 

Five lessons of 7-year-old boy on same material 

Lesson Strokes in 10 min. Errors to 100 strokes 

1 165 32.6 

2 150 33.3 

3 165 43.8 

4 180 36.1 

5 260 5. 

The question here is, why on the second and third days of 
practice was there no gain in speed from the previous prac- 
tices, and why on the second, third, and fourth days was there 
such a loss in accuracy? Then, on the fifth day, why such 
a change? 

In the course of the year's practice there were 45 oppor- 
tunities to compare work done on the same materials under 
the same conditions on succeeding days. In 27 or 3/5 of these 
periods the learners lost in speed, accuracy, or both. Careful 
observation at the time the work was done led to the con- 
clusion that fluctuation was due to the fact that every per- 
formance was the result of a combination of factors. When 
enough destructive elements to overcome previous practice 
were present, scores were lowered. The chief factors noted 
were : 

1. Interest — joy in the work, no conflicting desires, no wor- 
ries, etc. 

2. Physical condition — from general fitness to freedom from 
aches and pains. 

3. Mental alertness — the quick response that takes advan- 
tage of every situation. 

4. Tenacity — Often a good start would give way to poor 
work before the end of 10 minutes. Sometimes during a period 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 109 

of a few minutes excellent work would be done, only to 
be followed by a slump. 

Where we view a performance in the light of such summa- 
tion, the reason for the many peculiar records found in all 
experiments in learning is apparent. X may make more 
gains with a bad cold than he did when he did not have a 
cold. A cold is only a part of his physical condition and out- 
side of physical condition there are a number of factors which 
influence his performance. If other proper combinations are 
formed, they may overbalance the difficulty caused by the 
cold. Thus anything is possible within the limits of the prob- 
able combination of factors. 

The above is also a very clear indication that an objective 
performance should not always be taken at its face value. X 
may make a performance better than his typical record. It 
may be due to the presence of optimum conditions which are 
rarely present in his case. 

Overcoming a Plateau 

Plateaus have made up an interesting section of discussions 
of learning. As may be noted from the graphs they occurred 
with all the children in this study. Since no one has worked 
upon the problem of using special means to overcome a plateau, 
it was tried in the case of the six-year-old boy. 

He was offered a series of awards. The added interest 
caused him to diagnose his weaknesses and eventually to over- 
come them. Four special difficulties which had caused the 
plateau were discovered. They were : 

1. Importance of the correct placing of the hands. 

2. Holding the shift key more firmly in making capitals. 

3. Overcoming the failure to space. 

4. Keeping the eye upon the copy rather than reading the 
copy and his writing. (This increased speed almost 50 per 
cent.) The records of his work are given here. 

Date Speed No. of 

Mistakes 
Nov. 29 183 Strokes in 10 Min. 12 (Typical lesson before special 

award) 

(No award on account of speed) 

(No award, accuracy) 

(No award, speed) 

(No award, speed) 

(Award) 

(No award, speed and ace.) 

(No award, speed) 

(Award) 

(Award) 

(Award) 







Special Award Promised 




Nov. 


29 


183 Strokes in 10 Min. 


10 


Dec. 


1 


217 " " " " 


7 


Dec. 


2 


168 " 


2 


Dec. 


3 


167 " " " " 


2 


Dec. 


4 


214 " " " " 


3 


Dec. 


5 


174 " " " " 


7 


Dec. 


6 


181 " " " " 


2 


Dec. 


7 


242 " " " " 


4 


Dec. 


8 


260 " " " " 


3 


Dec. 


9 


309 " " " " 


3 



110 THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 

When compared to any of the other records of this boy 
the gains that may be noted from the foregoing tables are 
very great both in speed and accuracy. They seem to show 
that with special interest aroused an eight-year-old child can 
break a plateau. It may be noted that with the coming of 
added interest all the difficulties did not vanish. It was a slow 
uphill fight. There were many days without any award.'® 

The permanence of the improvement which resulted from 
the special interest generated by offering the series of awards 
can be seen by the performance of the child twenty days later. 

Date Speed Accuracy 

Dec. 29 306 strokes in 10 min. 8 mistakes 

After twenty days without practice, then, all the gain in 
speed is maintained and some of the gain in accuracy. In this 
last period no award was ofifered. The good results were 
not lost when the special interest was taken away. 

The Influence of Vacations 

The results indicate that a vacation of from one to fifteen 
days may cause either a gain or a loss, one is about as likely 
as the other. Thus, other factors were more powerful than 
the short vacation, so that its results were practically 
negligible. 

The four months vacation, however, had a strong negative 
result except in the case of the boy in the sixth grade. The 
reason for his excellent retention was probably the fact that 
he had more thoroughly learned the essentials. When ma- 
terials were not thoroughly learned, a four months vacation 
caused serious loss. When they were well assimilated, the 
four months were followed by even a slight gain. 

Results of typical short and long vacations are given below. 

Teachers' Institute Vacation 

November 1 to November 9 — 8 days. 

Table showing the influence upon speed and accuracy. The 
same material was written each of the two days. 

6 It must not be inferred that in the regular work this child or the 
others were not interested. At all times they showed as much interest 
as is ordinarily seen in well taught classes. 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN HI 

Speed Accuracy 
Strokes in Mistakes to 
10 Minutes 100 Strokes 

Boy 6 Years Old— Grade I. 

November 1 162 7. 

November 9 288 8. 

Boy 7 Years Old— Grade II. 

November 1 264 2.2 

November 9 297 8.4 

Boy 8 Years 01d-<}rade III. 

November 1 331 5.7 

November 9 336 8. 

Boy 12 Years Old— GradeVI. 

November 1 245 3.7 

November 9 219 1.8 

Summer Vacation 
May 25 to September 23 — 120 days or 4 months. 
Tables showing speed and accuracy in writing the same 
material before and after vacation. 

Speed Accuracy 
Strokes in Mistakes to 
10 Minutes 100 Strokes 

Boy 6 Years Old— Grade I. 

May 25 285 26.4 

September 23 , 234 56. 

Boy 7 Years Old— Grade II. 

May 25 750 1.8 

September 23 102 26. 

Boy 8 Years Old— Grade III. 

May 25 600 10.8 

September 23 131 55. 

Boy 12 Years Old— Grade VI. 

May 25 464 1.2 

September 23 475 7.7 

Relearning After Summer Vacation of 120 Days 
It took ten minute periods as listed below for the different 
children to regain what had been lost during the summer. 

Grade I Grade II Grade III Grade IV Grade V Grade VI 

12 periods 10 periods 7 periods Withdrew Withdrew No relearning 

necessary 



112 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 



Relearning After Two Years 
The six-year-old boy took up the work again after two 
years without practice. It took him nine periods (10 minutes 



ACCURACY CURVES OF FOUR CHILDREN FOR THREE 
MONTHS' WORK SHOWING INITIAL AND LATER 
% Accuracy LEARNING 

100 



95 



90 



85 



80 



75 



70 



65 



60 
Weeks 



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THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 113 

SPEED CURVES OF FOUR CHILDREN FOR THREE MONTHS' 



rokes in 
Minutes 



WORK SHOWING INITIAL AND LATER LEARNING 



1200 














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8 9 10 11 12 



114 THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 

each) to regain the ability he had at the end of his first year's 
work. 

These performances indicate that although it may appear 
that such an ability has been lost entirely (and initial per- 
formances after long idleness indicated very low ability), it 
takes a very short time to relearn. 

Initial Learning 
The introductory statement mentioned the fact that prac- 
tically all studies of child learning cover initial stages only. 
This is significant when interpreted in the light of the speed 
and accuracy curves given below. They show : 

1. That after three weeks there was no advancement in 
accuracy. A study covering only 150 minutes of practice 
(which is longer than many widely quoted studies of child 
learning) would have demonstrated that practice has a very 
big influence in improving accuracy. 

2. The older the child, the greater the initial spurt. This 
was probably due to the release of a capacity resulting from 
ordinary growth. It is interesting from the standpoint of 
learning in different grades. Little or no initial spurt may be 
expected of children entering school. Note the curves of the 
six-year-old boy. 

The First Ten Minutes' Work and Learning Capacity 
The question of initial performance and learning capacity 
has long been an interesting one. Can a ten minute test reveal 
the individual's ability to learn a function? The data of this 
experiment seem to show the contrary. In both speed and 
accuracy the first ten-minute period gave no indication of 
what was to follow. In fact, in the cases given here the 
first ten minutes indicated just the opposite to what followed. 
The speed curves on the preceding page show this. 

This had a certain amount of significance for vocational 
and other testing. If by further experiments it should be 
determined that a ten minute period (or test) is not a reliable 
indication of learning ability, it would indicate that any test 
should be repeated upon different days or on a series of days 
(from 30 to 6 or 10) before it could be considered reliable 
for individual diagnosis. Hollingsworth" takes this position. 
^ Vocational Psychology. 

Summary 
1. The data and the experience of this study are convincing 
that in ten minutes per day a normal child in the first, second, 



THE DAILY LEARNING OF SIX CHILDREN 115 

third, or sixth grade may learn the touch system of type- 
writing. However, the older child learned it most readily and 
retained it best. The teachers found him by far the least 
trouble, and it seemed that below the fifth grade, class work 
would be impossible in this subject. This study indicates 
that as far as the subject matter is concerned, typewriting 
could well be begun in the fifth grade. 

2. Short vacations seemed to have a varying influence upon 
the records. Under school conditions they are probably negli- 
gible factors. The same child benefited by the Christmas vaca- 
tion and lost during Thanksgiving. 

3. Long vacations caused a fall in the work when the func- 
tion was not well mastered. This would signify the need of 
a review at the beginning of each year's work. In the later 
stages of learning a long vacation had very little influence. 
Relearning was a very easy matter even after two years with- 
out practice. 

4. The data showed that a teacher cannot be informed as 
to the progress and needs of children without constant testing. 
A few tests may point to the opposite of the truth. 

5. The initial performances of the different individuals gave 
no indication of power or capacity. 

6. The records revealed a very rapid gain during the first 
three weeks, followed by a much slower gain which at times 
seemed to be more of a loss than a gain. This was especially 
noticeable in accuracy. Accuracy improved very rapidly at 
first. After that it was doubtful whether it improved at all. 

7. The younger the child the greater and more frequent 
were the fluctuations. 

8. Each child reached a plateau and remained there. When 
special effort was made, a plateau was broken, indicating that 
this phenomenon is probably due to ordinary causes and not 
an essential feature of learning curves. However, it is evi- 
dently a part of all ordinary learning where special training 
factors are not employed. 



